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Unmanned Russian Proton-M Rocket Explodes Less Than One Minute After Takeoff

An unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket carrying three satellites for Russia’s GLONASS (global navigation satellite system) crashed just seconds after its liftoff from the Russian Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan on Tuesday morning. The Proton-M rocket veered off course before exploding above the Baikonur cosmodrome, about a kilometer away from the launch pad. There were no reported injuries, but the Interfax news agency reports “the rocket fell during the first minute of its flight when its tanks contained about 500 tons of fuel,” and as a result “a lot of decontamination work may have to be done at the crash site.” According to The New York Times, Tuesday’s crash marks the fourth Proton failure in just three years.